Isreali millitary sites exposed by upgraded Google Earth

[Spring Onion]

Updated Google Earth exposes Israeli military sites

Jerusalem, October 05, 2007
First Published: 16:41 IST(5/10/2007)
Last Updated: 17:19 IST(5/10/2007)


Google Earth's upgraded archive of satellite pictures exposes key Israeli military and security sites, the Israeli Yediot Ahronot daily reported Friday, warning it made them easy potential targets for terrorists.

Google upgraded its satellite images of Israel, almost doubling their resolution, in the past days, Yediot said, adding the new images consist of one pixel per two square metres, compared to previous ones which consisted of one pixel representing only 10-20 square metres on earth.

Among the highly sensitive sites visible in detail are the Israel Defence Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv, key Israel Air Force bases and Israel's controversial, classified nuclear reactor in the southern desert city of Dimona.

Users have also identified another site as the alleged headquarters of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, whose location is secret.

The upgraded website was an "asset" to enemy states and a "treasure" to terrorists, the daily said.



http://www.hindustantimes.com/Story...adline=Google+Earth+exposes+key+Israeli+sites

 

[PakistaniPatriot]

Hey i have google Earth 4.2. do you know what are the longitude and the latitude for this site.

 

[Spring Onion]

Hey Patriot ask Webmaster or Blain or i think Neo they might help im realy bad at computers as well as at internet use.

Im also curious to browse it but i am as ignorent about the longitude and latitude for this site.

Did you browse the Indian site by google Earth ?
i think they still had not blured these as was demanded by India.
or can anyone provide me the recent development on that front too.

 

[Ababeel]

Has Pakistan asked for blurring its strategic sites which are on Google Earth with generosity.

 

[Spring Onion]

Ababeel i was wondering for that too whether we asked and even if we had asked would we be treated simillarly as they had assured india to do so for their sites.
Anyone if have any information please post

 

[mustang]

Like i said before here that who needs to spend millions of dollars on spy Satellites when you have Google Earth ... Right

 

[HK-47]

OMG google turns anti-semitic!anyway any pics of these sites?

 

[su-47]

Google earth has caused problems not only for israel, but for nearly every country. if the location of an airbase is known, that airbase can be exposed by simply typing the latitude and longitude of the place.

 

[Spring Onion]

I wonder if GoogleEarth is also exposing US millitary and sensitive sites ???

 

[Flintlock]

I wonder if GoogleEarth is also exposing US millitary and sensitive sites ???

Yes it is!!! Check the goole map for US....everything is marked right down to the last detail!! except for highly top secret stuff...most of their military bases are clearly visible.

 

[Spring Onion]

Yes it is!!! Check the goole map for US....everything is marked right down to the last detail!! except for highly top secret stuff...most of their military bases are clearly visible.

hmmm SA had US ever objected to it or is the matter that these bases are not reachable or their showing on the site would not create any problem for US?

 

[salahuldin786]

rticle published Oct 5, 2007
Google Earth provides bird’s eye view of Israeli reactor

JERUSALEM – When Google Earth first came along, the company went to some lengths to address the security concerns and restrictions in various countries, including Israel, where images of this nation were often blurry and you couldn’t zoom in to find your house in Jerusalem.


Well, good-bye to all that.


“Sensitive installations, Air Force bases with their planes and helicopters, missile bases and even the nuclear reactor in Dimona have never been photographed better,” writes Yuval Dror in Friday’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. “A recent Google Earth update shows satellite pictures that make it possible to see clear, sharp pictures of military and civilian targets all across Israel.”
“Up until recently, the satellite pictures of Israel on Google Earth had a particularly low resolution: every pixel was equal to 10-20 meters. Now, the satellite maps of Israel show great parts of the country with a resolution close to two meters per pixel.
“American law prohibits showing satellite pictures of the State of Israel with a resolution higher than two meters per pixel, but Google argues they are not breaking the law.”


The images are pretty remarkable. You can check out a very detailed shot of Israel’s not-so-secret nuclear reactor in Dimona (along with other Israeli military sites) courtesy of Charles Levinson at Conflict Blotter, Conflict Blotter — News, analysis and original reporting on the Middle East.
Yedioth Ahronoth basically accuses Google of aiding and abetting terrorists, Iran and others trying to destroy Israel.


“We feel like we’re dressed, but in fact we’re not,” the paper’s Alex Fishman writes. “We are transparent. The State of Israel, with its sensitive installations, has lost another scarf veiling its charms. If up until now we were undressed only by the superpower satellites, then now, with the improvement in the quality of satellite images from Google Earth, Israel’s most secret spots are becoming visible not only to any ephemeral intelligence organization ...


“From now on, when an Islamic Jihad militant is sent to collect information about a sensitive target in Israel, his dispatchers can give him the coordinate to insert in Google Earth on his laptop.
“Up until now, to guide a terrorist or an agent with any level of accuracy, it was necessary to collect information, and this wasn’t always easy. Today this information is freely available to all. Go get satellite pictures and take a walk through the State of Israel’s secret installations.”
Israel is a nation of open secrets. But it does everything it can to keep them, as former Israeli nuclear engineer Mordechai Vanunu well knows after spending 18 years in an Israeli prison for treason after revealing Dimona’s secrets in the British press.
Even now, Israeli government censors are preventing Israeli reporters from writing many details about last month’s Israeli strike on Syria, even though everyone from Syrian President Assad to Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken publicly about it.
How dangerous is this really for Israel? It certainly doesn’t make security easier. Maybe Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza are right now huddled around a laptop loading Google Earth and planning their next strike. Just about the only thing they have to fire are the low-power, unguided Qassam rockets. And one suspects that nations like Iran and Syria, if they plan to attack Israel, are going to rely on something more than Google Earth to stage a strike.
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Dion Nissenbaum covers the Middle East as Jerusalem bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers. E-mail him at dnissenbaummcclatchydc.com.
To read more of this writer’s blog – as well as those of other McClatchy foreign correspondents – go to McClatchy Washington Bureau | Homepage
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(c) 2007, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.